Woman pleads guilty in hospice fraud case

February 14, 2014, Greenwood, MS 
The owner of a Mississippi hospice has pleaded guilty in a multimillion dollar Medicare fraud investigation.

Regina Swims-King was charged in June in a 37-count criminal indictment related to the actions of Angelic Hospice in Greenwood.

She pleaded guilty Thursday to one count in U.S. District Court in Oxford.

Prosecutors said Angelic Hospice billed Medicare for millions of dollars services that were never rendered, sometimes involving forged documents.

The hospice billed Medicare more than $11 million from 2007 to 2012, according to court records.

Authorities said Swims-King used the money to fund a lavish lifestyle, including at least 20 cars.

Prosecutors said a hospice recruiter went door-to-door asking whether residents needed their blood pressure checked. The hospice then used their information to bill Medicare for services, prosecutors said.

In one example, authorities said the hospice billed thousands of dollars on behalf of someone who did not need hospice care and was healthy enough to walk several miles a day.

Some of the claims submitted to Medicare had the forged signatures of alleged beneficiaries and doctors, according to the indictment.